Appreciating Difference: Latest issue of the Trotter Review available on ScholarWorks

DeAma Battle, an artistic director and choreographer who has researched Africa-derived dances for decades, performs traditional steps while clad in the garb of her ancestral continent. Her studies and travels have documented steps and movements common to dances done in Africa and different countries in the Diaspora. Photo courtesy of DeAma Battle.

DeAma Battle, artistic director and choreographer. Photo courtesy of DeAma Battle.

The most recent issue of the Trotter Review, now available on ScholarWorks, explores how immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa wrestle with, define and adapt their identity after they arrive in the United States. Original research articles look at Haitian youth, African fathers and the children of Caribbean immigrants.

The Trotter Review has been published since 1987 by the William Monroe Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Full issues of the Review are available on ScholarWorks, the institutional repository for scholarship and research out of the University.

Apart from an introduction by Barbara Lewis, director of the Trotter Institute, the contents of this issue, titled “Appreciating Difference,” include:

A couple listens during a 2005 meeting of African immigrants with Marina Dimitrijevic, a member of Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. Courtesy of the office of Marina Dimitrijevic. Reprinted under Creative Commons.

A couple listens during a 2005 meeting of African immigrants with Marina Dimitrijevic, a member of Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. Courtesy of the office of Marina Dimitrijevic. Reprinted under Creative Commons.

To view the full issue, and to explore back issues of this publication, click here.


ScholarWorks is the University of Massachusetts Boston’s online institutional repository for scholarship and research. ScholarWorks serves as a publishing platform, a preservation service, and a showcase for the research and scholarly output of members of the UMass Boston community. ScholarWorks is a service of the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston.

Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) records: Now available for research

PRIM&R 20th Anniversary poster

PRIM&R 20th Anniversary poster, 1984

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston is pleased to announce the availability of the Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) records (1972-2008) for research.

Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1974 in response to increasingly complex and sensitive problems facing research and related clinical practice, such as the indictment of four doctors conducting fetal research at the Boston City Hospital, the Controlled Substances Act, and the United States Public Health Services Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, resulting in the passage of the National Research Act in 1974 and enacting regulations governing the protection of human subjects and mandating institutional review boards (IRBs).

This collection, spanning 39 linear feet, documents the activities of PRIM&R and the organization’s longtime executive director (from 1975-2014), Joan Rachlin, covering the years 1972 through 2008. In particular, the material in this collection documents the planning and arrangement of conferences, including research and the study of relevant topics such as the ethics of medical study and research on human subjects and animals. The collection also documents the member activities of ARENA, the board of directors of PRIM&R, and WISH-net.

The PRIM&R collection includes original documents, correspondence, photocopies, notes, conference proceedings, newsletters, pamphlets, books, serials, posters, floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, Betacam tapes, cassettes, mini-DV cassettes, and micro cassettes. The resource PRIM&R Through the Years: Three Decades of Protecting Human Subjects, which consists of almost thirty years of key talks from PRIM&R conferences, can be found in the special collections of the University Archives & Special Collections department, and in the Healey Library main stacks.

If you have any questions or if you would like to schedule a time to explore the collection, email library.archives@umb.edu or call 617-287-5469.

View the finding aid for this collection.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.

Reflecting on the Boston Schools Case: Archival collections in the Healey Library

Judge W. Arthur Garrity signing the deed of gift for his chamber papers with UMass Boston Chancellor Sherry Penney. As a result over 60 boxes of files from the 1972 desegregation court case, Morgan v. the Boston School Committee, were donated to the Joseph P. Healey Library. Archivist Elizabeth Mock in background.

Judge W. Arthur Garrity signing the deed of gift for his chamber papers with UMass Boston Chancellor Sherry Penney. As a result over 60 boxes of files from the 1972 desegregation court case, Morgan v. the Boston School Committee, were donated to the Joseph P. Healey Library. Archivist Elizabeth Mock in background.

Busing is in the news.

The Boston Globe.

The Boston Herald.

WGBH.

And for good reason. It was 40 years ago this month that court-ordered busing started in Boston. Busing was an effort to desegregate public schools in Boston and Massachusetts and was the result of federal court case Morgan v. Hennigan, 379 F. Supp. 410 (1974), commonly known as the Boston Schools Case.

Morgan v. Hennigan, 379 F. Supp. 410 (1974) was a complex and legally entangled class action suit against the state of Massachusetts and the Boston School Committee that evolved from a report published in April 1965 by an advisory committee appointed by the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education to study racial segregation in Massachusetts’ public schools. On March 15, 1972, the plaintiffs filed a complaint with the First District Court of Massachusetts, charging the state and Boston officials with maintaining a segregated school system that denied black students equal educational opportunities. After preliminary hearings, the case went to trial before Federal District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., who was selected by a random process to preside over the case. The trial lasted about fifteen days and on June 21, 1974, Judge Garrity filed a 152-page opinion with the clerk of the court. In his lengthy opinion, the Judge ruled that the School Committee of the City of Boston had “intentionally brought about and maintained racial segregation” in the Boston public schools. The opinion also required the School Committee to use a temporary desegregation plan (court-ordered busing) for the 1974-1975 school year and ordered the Committee to begin formulating a permanent plan. By January 1975, the School Committee had failed to present an adequate desegregation plan to the court. As a result, the court assumed an active role in the formulation of the desegregation remedy and began to oversee implementation of court-ordered desegregation in the Boston public schools for the next fifteen years.

Last Sunday, the Boston Globe published a meticulously researched and compelling look at the history busing and school desegregation in Boston. Through interviews and archival research, the feature story explores issues of desegregation, but also broader issues of parenting and education. Earlier this month, the Herald published an opinion piece by Ray Flynn, who served as mayor of Boston from 1984 to 1993, about the busing ruling.

Spring 1981 issue of Mosaic, a publication by the students of South Boston High School

Spring 1981 issue of Mosaic, a publication by the students of South Boston High School

We have a number of collections in University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston that would certainly prove beneficial to researchers and writers looking at the history of busing and desegregation in Boston.

Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. donated his chamber papers to University Archives & Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston on December 8, 1998. Chambers papers are the personal property of the judge, who retains the right to make the final decision regarding their preservation and management, and the papers in this collection constitute a day-to day file documentation of the Boston Schools Case.

In the papers of sociologist and academic Robert Dentler is information documenting his role in drafting a desegregation plan for Boston’s schools, as well as published articles and papers studying the impacts of busing in Boston.

University Archives & Special Collections also holds the papers of the Center for Law and Education related to the Boston school desegregation case. The center served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs.

Finally, UASC holds the records of Mosaic. Founded by Michael Tierney and Dan Terris, Mosaic was launched at South Boston High School in 1980 in response to the effects of court-ordered desegregation on the high school. Led by professional writers and photographers, students produced stories and photographs about themselves and their communities. A yearly anthology was published from 1980 to 1988.

I hope the stories keep coming.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.

College of Liberal Arts, Dean’s Office records: Now available for research

College of Liberal Arts, Dean’s Office: records, 1971-2009

College of Liberal Arts, Dean’s Office: records, 1971-2009

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston is pleased to announce that the College of Liberal Arts, Dean’s Office records, 1971-2009, are now open for research.

This collection, spanning 14.5 linear feet, documents the development and growth of the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston from 1971 to 2009, particularly the activities of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Senate, as well as course and program development. Records include carbon copies, photo copies, notes, reports, correspondence, memos, resumes, budgets, strategic  plans, accreditation information, enrollment status reports, program and regents’ reviews, self-studies, statistics, class scheduling, and agenda and meeting minutes for the Faculty Council and the CLA Senate.

Series I includes files that were maintained by Dean Louise Smith, dating from 1971 to 2006. Records from Series V were most likely maintained by Edna Seaman, Associate Dean from 1980 to 1992. Items of note include records for the Writing Proficiency Exam review by the Office of Civil Rights, Senate Actions to improve the exam from 1988 to 1993, and the diversification plan from 1975 to 1979. Also of note is information pertaining to the development of a Black Studies department at UMass Boston from 1974 to 1980.

If you have any questions or if you would like to schedule a time to explore the collection, email library.archives@umb.edu or call 617-287-5469.

View the finding aid for this collection.


These records have been processed as part of University Archives & Special Collections’ Save Our History! campaign. As part of UMass Boston’s 50th anniversary, University Archives & Special Collections is calling for the transfer of founding documents and organizational records from all units on campus. These units include (but are not limited to) academic departments, administrative units, institutes, centers, and student groups. Read more about transferring University records to UASC.

UMass Boston Archives staff give presentation at Society of American Archivists annual meeting

Joanne Riley, University Archivist and Curator of Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston (left) and an SAA conference attendee discuss the department's poster.

Joanne Riley, University Archivist and Curator of Special Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston (left), and SAA conference attendee discuss the department’s poster.

Last week, archivists from University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston headed to Washington, D.C., for the joint annual meeting of the Council of State Archivists (CoSA), the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA), and the Society of American Archivists (SAA). On Thursday and Friday of this year’s conference, called ARCHIVES*RECORDS: Ensuring Access, Andrew Elder, Jessica Holden, and Joanne Riley presented as part of the professional poster session on our efforts to establish successful ongoing relationships with community archives and organizations.

SAA PosterOur poster, titled “University Archives and Community Organizations: Ensuring Access through Collaboration,” looks closely at our ongoing relationship with The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) and our collaborative efforts to preserve and provide access to 79,000 mortuary records from the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. Elements of the collaboration included shifting stewardship of the records from the Foresters to TIARA to UMass Boston, integrating TIARA’s efforts in processing and indexing the records into the Archives’ workflow, providing in-person and electronic access to the records, and hosting public events that celebrate the partnership and educate the public about the records. This poster illustrates the lessons learned during the records’ journey from an active business to a community organization to an archives and special collections department at a large, public research university.

View the poster and handout here.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.